Fall of Man?..Glimpse of Grace...

All refs from the Amplified Bible...

God showed grace right from the beginning...in Genesis

When Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, of blessing and calamity (now I know where tsunamis and earthquakes come from!..)..

Condemnation crept in..and Adam feared...

Gen 3:10 He said, I heard the sound of You [walking] in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.

Another sign of condemnation is blaming of others...

Gen 3:12 And the man said, The woman whom You gave to be with me--she gave me [fruit] from the tree, and I ate.
Gen 3:13 And the Lord God said to the woman, What is this you have done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled (cheated, outwitted, and deceived) me, and I ate.

Then the Lord God had a session with all three guilty parties...

Serpent got it really bad:

Gen 3:14 And the Lord God said to the serpent, Because you have done this, you are cursed above all [domestic] animals and above every [wild] living thing of the field; upon your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust [and what it contains] all the days of your life.
Gen 3:15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her Offspring; He will bruise and tread your head underfoot, and you will lie in wait and bruise His heel.

3 things to note in the above:

1. Cursed above all animals and above every living thing...bad!


2. All animals and every living thing is also cursed albeit less! Why? Under the Old Testament, by the Law of Moses, animals will be used sacrificially, by their blood, to postpone the wrath of God...In fact, the Lord God had some animals sacrificed, blood was involved..and their skin used to cover Adam and Eve even though they were covered with leaves...Grace is what I see taking place here...
   

   Gen 3:21 For Adam also and for his wife the Lord God made long coats (tunics) of skins and clothed them.



3. Salvation plan (Jesus) for mankind already prophesied by the Lord God..Offspring will bruise and tread upon the serpent's head...

Eve got some multiplication of what was already there:

Gen 3:16 To the woman He said, I will greatly multiply your grief and your suffering in pregnancy and the pangs of childbearing; with spasms of distress you will bring forth children. Yet your desire and craving will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.

Nothing too serious or unbearable...now..even without the multiplying effect..there will be some grief and suffering...pangs..spasms of distress...The role of Eve as a helper to Adam was re-emphasized...

Adam was not directly cursed, for his sake, the ground was:

Gen 3:17 And to Adam He said, Because you have listened and given heed to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, saying, You shall not eat of it, the ground is under a curse because of you; in sorrow and toil shall you eat [of the fruits] of it all the days of your life.
Gen 3:18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth for you, and you shall eat the plants of the field.
Gen 3:19 In the sweat of your face shall you eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you shall return.

A few things to note:

1. Adam was not created to live forever as...
   

   Gen 3:22 And the Lord God said, Behold, the man has become like one of Us [the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit], to know [how to distinguish between] good and evil and blessing and calamity; and now, lest he put forth his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.

   
   Tree of life withheld(only for a while)...for the sake of man...Lord God knows why...for in Revelations 2:7, we were given the tree of life(Jesus) to eat from!...Immortality(not just spiritual but physical...really!...I will write a Note on this topic) is our inheritance!...Amen!


2. No where does it say that Man has now lost his dominion or authority...
   

   Gen 11:6 And the Lord said, Behold, they are one people and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do, and now nothing they have imagined they can do will be impossible for them.



3. Adam was put out of the Garden of Eden (away from the prescence of God) but in no(NO...N..O...) way:
   - was Adam cursed directly.
   - or that the serpent (Amplified Bible: devil) is now in charge or has taken/usurped the authority placed on Man.
   

   Gen 1:26 God said, Let Us [Father, Son, and Holy Spirit] make mankind in Our image, after Our likeness, and let them have complete authority over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the [tame] beasts, and over all of the earth, and over everything that creeps upon the earth.

In conclusion, instead of the "fall of man" I see that the Lord God had put in a salvation plan for mankind right from the start! I believe it is the Grace of God! I believe the Lord God so love us, His image, His likeness, that He would plan our salvation by doing the impossible...coming against His Own Righteousness..He has to..to get us out of trouble!
We need to be saved..from what? The fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, blessing and calamity! Eaten by Adam...and therefore all the generations after him...
What is this fruit? good and evil, blessing and calamity..sounds like law..do good get good do bad get beat...

more to follow...

Here's part 2: http://fcyap-godisgood.blogspot.com/2014/10/fall-of-manglimpse-of-gracepart-2.html